After two editions in Sofia, the Terra Madre Balkans network chose Dubrovnik, Croatia for their third meeting that brings together food communities from Southeast Europe. More than 200 delegates will be arriving from 11 countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey). Slow Food President Carlo Petrini will be participating in the event, which has also received support from the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ivo Josipović.

Terra Madre Balkans was launched in Sofia in 2010 and is the first network of its kind to unite food communities from several countries of the same region. As Balkan countries share common distinctive food traditions and similar socio-economic conditions, the safeguarding of their rural heritage requires shared and timely efforts that go beyond national borders.

Slow Food and Terra Madre formed a deep-rooted network in the region with over 1500 members, 16 Slow Food Presidia, 80 food communities, 25 chefs and 15 educational programs on nutrition and taste in schools. The event will offer a series of conferences and debates, which will take place at the University of Dubrovnik. The historical park Gradac will host an Earth Market, where over 30 booths will give visitors the chance to discover a wide selection of products from food communities and Slow Food Presidia in the Balkans.

The event will also aim to fundraise money in support of the several food communities damaged by the worst floods to hit Bosnia and Serbia in the past 120 years. Slow Food has also set-up a way of donating money towards this cause on its website www.slowfood.com/donate.

The third edition of Terra Madre Balkans is organized within the framework of the project ESSEDRA, co-financed by the European Union towards DG Enlargement. Slow Food promotes the project with the goal of assisting the integration process of the Balkans and Turkey into Europe by strengthening civil society; namely its capacity to influence policies and to promote sustainable rural development.

The upcoming event will also be used as an opportunity to present over 150 Balkan products listed in Slow Food’s Ark of Taste catalogue that collects small-scale quality productions belonging to the cultures, history and traditions of the entire planet but are at risk of extinction.